Service Animals

Mount Saint Mary’s University follows the ADA and the most recent guidance from the Department of Justice regarding service animals. In accordance with ADA and DOJ, MSMU adopts the following guidelines for approved service animals on campus.

Definition of Service Animal

Service animals are defined by ADA and DOJ as “dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA”. For a copy of the SERVICE ANIMAL GUIDELINES, including Handler’s Responsibilities, see the Director of Learning Assistance Programs at Chalon or the Director of the Learning Resource Center at Doheny.